Thursday, November 26, 2015

Give thanks not to be afraid

Photo by Sebastian Farmborough

Happy Thanksgiving, but since I covered the holiday three different ways last year, I hope you'll forgive me if today we offer different, though still nutritious fare, for those who might have had their fill of turkey, stuffing, and the whole gluttonous carnival. It's probably bush league of me, but I sometimes look to see who is following me on Twitter. Tuesday I noticed the addition of an English photographer, Sebastian Farmborough, and asked him if I could reproduce the above photo here, and he graciously agreed. The picture made me think of a column that ran five years ago in the Sun-Times, a reminder that pre-Paris, we were still trying to sort through our conflicted emotions about the emergence of Islam, and the idea of accepting people who look and think differently than ourselves. I believe it's even more relevant now than it was then, unfortunately. And if you just HAVE to read something about Thanksgiving, well, here, and here and here. Been there, done that. Fear is the emotion underlying everything. A primary instinct we
share with animals -- I pad outside to retrieve the morning
newspapers and catch a bunny unaware. He freezes, tracking me
anxiously, then rockets away, his little heart hammering. I pick up
the papers, smiling, because of course I mean him no harm. For a bunny, there is no downside to automatically fleeing humans
-- much unnecessary leaping, perhaps. It is a survival mechanism,
but so is my not being afraid of what doesn't pose a threat, the
skill that allowed humans to slowly develop beyond isolated tribes,
to work together and build this complex world of wonder we now
enjoy. There are no wonders of the rabbit world besides underground
burrows. But that's it.

- - -

My wife and I attended the 6th annual fund-raising dinner earlier
this month for the Chicago chapter of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations, a group dedicated to thwarting the
baseless fear that so rattled my rabbit friend. "I'm going to wear
the long dress I wear to Hassidic weddings," my wife said
beforehand, without irony. I said that sounded like a good idea. Some 1,500 guests attended the CAIR dinner, at the Drury Lane in
Oak Brook. An older gentleman named Feteh Riyal -- a muezzin --
gave the call to prayer, eyes closed, hands pressed flat against
the sides of his face, emitting long, plaintive tones I had never
heard before. They were haunting, beautiful. The keynote speaker
was Professor Tariq Ramadan, who had been banned from the United
States for six years under George W. Bush's security state. I brought along a tape recorder "in case he said anything
incendiary." But the speech centered on the moral duties of a
Muslim to be an active part of the community and do good works.
That didn't seem like news. To me, the most noteworthy moment came before the doors were
opened. A hundred people were waiting -- men in suits, women in
headscarves. Two couples walked up -- college boys in dark suits
and their dates, a pair of gals packed into tiny black dresses. The girls looked almost
naked among the colorful veils and modest leggings, and seemed to be constantly trying to tug their dresses over themselves. "I knew Islam was a big tent," I whispered to my wife. "But I
didn't think it was that big a tent." Turns out the college couples were in the wrong place, here for a Sigma Chi dance in
the ballroom next door. It's funny how the power of a majority works,
because the Sigma Chi couples were suddenly the ones out of place,
swimming against the cultural mainstream, and for the first time I
grasped the perspective of women who dress in the modest Islamic
manner and maintain that it is themselves who are the liberated
ones. But that was subtle and not something I felt obligated to pass
along to you. The next day, I began reading my e-mail, as I always
do. But now the usual garbage seemed different, worse.

- - -

The e-mail was headed "Muslim Belief" and began, "This is a true
story and the author, Rick Mathes, is a well-known leader in prison
ministry." It describes how Mathes attended a training session at a state
prison. A Muslim cleric outlines his beliefs, and Mathes challenges
him. Isn't it true that "most Imams and clerics of Islam have
declared a Holy war against the infidels of the world"? The imam admits it is. "Let me make sure I have this straight," Mathes continues. "All
followers of Allah have been commanded to kill everyone who is not
of your faith so they can have a place in heaven. Is that correct?" "He sheepishly replied, 'Yes.' " The story stank of fabrication, and a check of the debunking sign
Snopes.com shows it's pure falsity -- the only true part is that
Mathes wrote it. It's a lie. No such exchange took place. Yet the story has been
circulating widely on the Internet for seven years.

- - -

Tariq Ramadan spoke for 45 minutes and said, basically, that being
a good Muslim means living in harmony with your neighbors and in
doing good. "Spread peace," he said. "You are a people of peace. People of
peace are going to face rejection and war, but this is not our
objective. Our objective is peace. Any Muslim who tells you that
you cannot love your neighbor, you have to say, 'You need to have a
better understanding of Islam.' We are people who are spreading
around a dignified way of life. . . . You are at home in this
country. This is your home. The American people are your people.
And anyone in a mosque who speaks of Americans as 'them' and not
'us' is the starting point of a problem."

- - -

Why do Westerners succumb to anti-Muslim fear? It's a natural
reflex -- certainly what terrorists expect when they claim their
acts are in the name of Islam. They want to drive a wedge between
the cultures, lest a harmonious blending undercut their extremism
and deprive them of the enemy they crave. It's a partnership, the
terrorists and the fear-mongers, working in harmony and tacit
agreement. Actually, fear isn't the underlying instinct. Ignorance is. Fear is
often ignorance in action. Rabbits are not smart animals, and so
quick reflexes pass for philosophy. We humans are supposed to be
brighter than that. I only wish you could have gone to the CAIR
dinner with me and seen -- no offense -- the parade of unremarkable
American normality that I saw; pleasant, concerned, decent people
sharing a meal, albeit with a few more veils and skullcaps than are
considered usual here at the moment. It will become much more
common, and if that frightens you, you are being startled for no
reason.—Originally published in the Sun-Times, April 19, 2010 The photo atop the blog, "An Emerging Mystery," was taken by Sebastian Farmborough, an English photographer living in Dubai, who is chronicling the surprise and beauty of the Muslim world. You can learn more about him and his work here.

In a London Marx and Spenser last summer a woman of obviously middle eastern provenance scooted past me. I could tell she was young only from her gait, since her costume covered her from head to toe. Except for the white flash of what looked like "Air Jordan's" just below the hem of her long black skirt. It made me wonder what other, possibly un-Islamic garments might be concealed beneath that Burqua.

The "mall point of light" notion is a good one. A head scarf can enhance a pretty face, or even a not so pretty one. And some women no doubt look better in flowing garbs. But burquas give me the creeps, and I can't believe that, unless ISIS has its way, they will someday go the way of the chastity belt, even in the wilds of Pakistan.

Funny cartoon in, I think, the New Yorker. A Saudi Prince is pointing his Nikon at a group of assembled wives, all totally covered in their black garments. The caption is, of course, "Smile."